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"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for everyone..."

Prayer underlies everything that happens at Messiah. We are conscious that Jesus' words to his disciples apply to us as well: "Without me you can do nothing."

Prayer ministries at Messiah take a variety of forms, depending on needs and circumstances. The ones that follow offer some examples of how we pray together. We hope that you may avail yourself of them and become involved in them.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

God calls and empowers his church to make his love known in the wider community, to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ. At Messiah that takes various forms. Here are some of the ministries that we support, and in which you may wish to become involved through prayer and action:

Congratulations on your decision to be married! We at Messiah want to do everything we can to make your wedding service a truly joyful celebration, and even more importantly to help you to prepare for your marriage–your union as husband and wife for the rest of your lives.

Marriage is given

• that husband and wife may support and help each other, living faithfully together in need and plenty, in sorrow and in joy;
• that with delight and tenderness they may know each other in love and, through the joy of their bodily union, may strengthen the union of their hearts and lives; and
• that they may be blessed in having children, and in caring for them and bringing them up in accordance with God's design.

The Bible affirms that marriage is a gift of God in creation. It is a means of his grace, in which man and woman become one flesh. Our Lord Jesus Christ was himself a guest at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and it is our earnest prayer that he will bless your marriage with his presence, and that strengthened and guided by him you may fulfill his purposes of love for the whole of your life together.

"Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another..."

House groups offer an environment for Christian community that complements what happens at Messiah on Sunday mornings. In the context of a small group of up to a dozen people, they provide a place for mutual support and encouragement through listening and participation, and together seeking God's presence and guidance, healing and empowerment. The groups present a regular opportunity (usually weekly or biweekly) to grow spiritually through the study of God's word, prayer, fellowship, and encouragement in ministry.

"I am the resurrection and the life," says the Lord. "Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die."

Death brings loss, sorrow and grief to all. In the face of death, Christians affirm with tears and joy the hope of the Gospel. As Christians, we believe that through Christ God has conquered death and that there is nothing that can separate us from his love. This faith enables us to hold on to God's grace and compassion even in the midst of deep sorrow.

However, Christians do not bear bereavement in isolation, but are sustained by the power of the Holy Spirit and the community of faith. The church offers a ministry of love, support, and hope to all who grieve.

Advent

Purple

The church calendar begins with the season of Advent–the four Sundays preceding Christmas. "Advent" is derived from the Latin word for "coming". It is a time of anticipation and hope, reminding us of the many generations over which the people of Israel awaited the coming of God's Messiah (Anointed One), of our own preparation for the celebration of Jesus' coming at Christmas, and of our need to be ready when he will come again in glory.

"People were bringing little children to Jesus in order that he might touch them. When he saw this, he said to them, 'Let the little children come to me; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.' And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them."

Our aim at Messiah is to live out the vow we make at each child's baptism: that by our prayers and witness we will help him or her to grow into the full stature of Christ.

We want our children:

• to know the love of God,
• to be rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ, and
• to share fully in the life of the family of God.

Welcome!

As members of the Christian community we are grateful to be able to celebrate with you on the happy occasion of the baptism of your child.

We believe that God is the creator of all things. Through the care and nurture of children he gives parents a share in the work and joy of creation.

There was never any thing by the wit of man so well devised, or so surely established, which (in continuance of time) hath not been corrupted: as (among other things) it may plainly appear by the common prayers in the Church, commonly called divine service: the first original and ground whereof, if a man would search out by the ancient fathers, he shall find that the same was not ordained, but of a good purpose, and for a great advancement of godliness: For they so ordered the matter, that all the whole Bible (or the greatest part thereof) should be read over once in the year, intending thereby, that the Clergy, and specially such as were Ministers of the congregation, should (by often reading and meditation of God's word) be stirred up to godliness themselves, and be more able also to exhort other by wholesome doctrine, and to confute them that were adversaries to the truth. And further, that the people (by daily hearing of holy scripture read in the Church) should continually profit more and more in the knowledge of God, and be the more inflamed with the love of his true religion.

From the Preface to the original Book of Common Prayer, 1549

The Episcopal Church in the United States is one of thirty-eight "provinces" that comprise the Anglican Communion-a body of some 77 million believers worldwide, that traces its structure, liturgy, and traditions back to the English Reformation in the sixteenth century. In 1886-1888, the bishops of the Anglican Communion identified four principles inherent in Anglicanism, which have become known as "The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral". They offer of helpful basis for beginning to understand what Anglicanism is all about.

"Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work."

The Bible contains more than two thousand references to money and how we use it. In the gospels Jesus recognized the significance of money, and spoke challengingly about it on a number of occasions. When a rich young ruler came to him asking what he could do to inherit eternal life, Jesus told him to sell all he had, and the young man went away sorrowing. When Jesus saw a poor widow place two small coins in the Temple collection box, he commended her to his disciples. "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. Others have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on." Jesus also told his disciples not to fret over their material needs, but to seek first God's kingdom and God's righteousness, and God would look after all the rest.